How a self-performing workforce model powers the future of facilities

The facilities industry is at a crossroads. An aging workforce, a shortage of skilled trades, and rapid tech adoption are converging at the same time, and most facility owners aren't ready.

According to IFMA, nearly half of facility management professionals worldwide are expected to retire within the next decade. Yet, the talent pipeline isn’t keeping pace. Approximately 4,000 facility management students graduate annually, while demand for qualified professionals far outstrips that number.

Skilled trade shortages compound the problem. One analysis of 12 types of trade job categories, including maintenance technicians, welders, and carpenters, projected an estimated 20 open positions for every one net new worker between 2022 and 2032.

At the same time, the buildings themselves are becoming harder to run. IoT, AI, and machine learning are no longer emerging features. They're baseline expectations in modern site management. Today’s building management system engineers need proficiency in cloud-based analytics, cybersecurity, and data programming: a hybrid skillset that conventional trade training was never designed to produce.

Facing these pressures, many building owners turn to subcontractors. It typically starts with outsourcing individual services — HVAC, janitorial, electrical, landscaping — which provides access to specialists but creates a fragmented web of contracts, service standards, invoices, and contacts. Subcontractors don't control who shows up, how they're trained, or whether they can operate in a technology-forward environment. Managing that complexity takes time and breeds inconsistency across your portfolio.

The self-performing workforce model was built precisely for the convergence of pressures the industry now faces. The integrated facility services model puts a unified, directly employed, and continuously trained workforce at the center of your operations. One accountable team, equipped to handle everything from skilled trades to technology-driven building systems.

This two-part series explores how we're preparing that workforce for what's next: the human infrastructure behind smarter buildings.

A leading approach: the self-performing difference

Through an integrated facility services model, a provider like ABM self-performs up to 90% of services, bringing maintenance, cleaning, and technical systems. That means running cogeneration plants, managing water systems, and maintaining boilers and cooling towers, all with our own staff of mechanics and technicians. The only outsourced tasks are those that specific third-party licensing by industry standards, such as fire and life safety systems, elevators, and pest control.

This single-team structure shapes hiring. As the industry evolves, more integrated facilities services are bringing on people with experience with controls and automation who can handle building controls and eventually grow into frontline roles. Robotics engineers, automotive engineers, and innovation managers are now placed directly on client accounts, roles that simply didn't exist in deployments five or ten years ago.

What that looks like in practice: one of ABM's clients is a leading autonomous vehicle company. They move fast, too fast to route every decision through a centralized corporate team managing thousands of accounts simultaneously. So ABM embeds an innovation manager directly at their site, working at the client's pace. As their technology evolves, our facility management capabilities evolve alongside it. No lag, no handoff, no misaligned priorities.

That's the structural advantage of self-performance: consistent training, consistent culture, consistent standards, because every person on your team is genuinely ours.

Defining the skills of the future

Site support has always relied on skilled hands and institutional knowledge. The challenge today is that both are in shorter supply. At the same time, the systems stepping in to fill the gap demand something frontline workers historically haven't needed: digital literacy.

These aren't future considerations. The World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 identified AI and big data as the fastest-growing skill categories across industries. Facility teams are not exempt. Predictive maintenance platforms, IoT sensor networks, and AI-based analytics are now part of the daily operating environment.

But the answer, according to Angela Culver, VP of ABM Performance Solutions, isn't to search for “unicorns”.

"Searching for people who can lead a team, diagnose a mechanical failure, and interpret a data dashboard all at once is rarely successful," she says. "What actually scales is pairing strong leaders with deep technical talent — building teams that let each member do what they do best."

That’s meant rethinking what upskilling actually looks like. Account directors and project managers who came up through operations already know how to motivate people and drive performance, skills that are genuinely hard to teach. The work hasn't been to retrain them on boiler systems. It's been to bring in the right technical depth alongside them, and equip those leaders to elevate and empower that expertise.

ABM's 300+ local branch network reinforces this model. Supervisors, technicians, and frontline workers are embedded and consistent, connected to one another and accountable to the client, not rotating through on a subcontract schedule.

How IFS leaders are developing today’s workforce

Workforce development is a core operating strategy at ABM.

Every team member receives an average of 40 hours of annual training, drawing on multiple learning formats designed to build practical, job-ready skills: on-the-job coaching from experienced mentors, self-paced online courses through ABM University, and in-person workshops focused on leadership and communication. Training is tailored to specific roles, sites, and client environments.

Mentorship is structured and intentional. “We're adding mentors and subject matter experts so that if a technician gets stuck, they can get help — a phone-a-friend system," notes Natalie Rawlings, ABM's Director of Operations for Manufacturing & Distribution. Through quarterly talent reviews and the Frontline Leader Program, team members receive guidance not just from direct supervisors, but from cross-departmental leaders who help map longer-term career paths. The goal is to make advancement visible and achievable from day one.

That includes building genuine career pathways, particularly across service lines that have historically been siloed. For instance, after roughly nine months on the job, a mentor sits down with each technician to walk through advancement options within ABM: HVAC technician through Technical Solutions, building engineer, controls and automation, and journeyman electrician. The bridge between janitorial and the skilled trades has long been missing from the industry. ABM is building it.

Succession planning is the natural extension of that commitment. Each year, ABM identifies high performers, assesses their trajectory, and connects them with internal cohorts and targeted development programs. Performance reviews include a direct conversation: where do you want to go, and what does your path look like? That framework applies from frontline staff through senior leadership.

The business case for better training

Training isn’t just about ensuring campuses are properly cared for. It also plays a role in employee retention. Across the facility services industry, employee turnover is high: the average rate is 75–150%. When you also account for the aging workforce, training becomes even more mission-critical.

Training doesn’t just lower risk, however. Companies that invest in employee training and development see clear benefits.

• Company training programs yield 218% higher income per employee than those without comprehensive training
• When employees receive the training they need (and want), companies are 17% more productive
• Employees are 45% more likely to stay when they’re trained and supported

Employee training doesn’t just address workforce gaps; it’s a driver of innovation, revenue, and productivity.

ABM deliberately builds retention into the culture. Recognition programs like the High Five peer-to-peer program, President's Club, and monthly and quarterly performance awards create an environment where contributions are seen and celebrated. Regular employee feedback loops ensure concerns are addressed before they become reasons to leave.

ABM actively supports team members attending industry conferences, chapter meetings, and professional networking events — whether in facility services, electrical, engineering, or automation — because the knowledge they bring back makes the work better.

"I've never heard the phrase 'we've always done it that way' here," says Angela Culver. "And that matters."

The business case for investing in our talent shows. Lower turnover means the technician who completed advanced BAS training six months ago is still there twelve months from now, putting that knowledge to work. It means faster adoption of new protocols because the team is building on a foundation of expertise, not starting over. It means a workforce that doesn't just respond to problems, but anticipates them using the data and tools at their disposal to keep your site running at peak performance. That kind of proactive, systems-driven capability takes time to develop. Losing it is costly. Retaining it is a competitive advantage.

What comes next: human and machine collaboration

This article has focused on the people side of operations — how to recruit, train, develop, and retain the workforce that runs your facility. But there's a second dimension to this story: what happens to that workforce as automation, robotics, and AI become standard features of modern facility management?

These roles don’t disappear; they evolve. And the integrated facility services model we’ve built ensures that they evolve in a way that continues to deliver value. By hiring, training, and retaining our own workforce, these teams learn your facility over time and adapt as it evolves. For clients, that translates directly into lower turnover, more consistent service delivery, faster protocol adoption, and stronger ROI from every smart building investment you make.

The technology only performs as well as the people operating it. When those people are deeply trained, continuously developed, and genuinely invested in your building, the returns accelerate. In the next article of this two-part series, we’ll demonstrate why the facilities teams best positioned to capture the value of smart building technology aren't the ones with the most sophisticated systems — they're the ones with people who know how to use them.